On 23 September 2020 our team welcomed French Senator Olivier Cadic and his delegation for a discussion about research for the Space sector, and a tour of our Space education and research facilities.
His excellency, Bruno Perdu, the French Ambassador to Luxembourg, and the Director General of Orange Luxembourg, Corinne Lozé attended the visit along with Marina Daniel, the Ambassador’s scientific advisor, and Bruno Théret. Our Vice-Director, Prof. Yves Le Traon, and Dr. Carlo Duprel, the Head of SnT’s Technology Transfer Office (TTO), hosted the group with Prof. Miguel Olivares-Mendez and Dr. Jan Thoemel.
The tour began with an overview of SnT’s activities in Space before heading to our CubeSat Lab and LunaLab. While touring the former, the delegation got a taste of what it is like for the students in Interdisciplinary Space Masters (ISM) to work so closely with our CubeSat. The visit was then completed with a short walk on the “surface of the Moon” in the LunaLab.
SnT has a number of connections with the French research community, with many of our own team coming from the country, making this an excellent opportunity to discuss even closer cooperation. France is a strong leader in the space industry as the country of origin for one of the world’s leading launch service provider, Ariane, as well as the home of Thales, Airbus, and Eutelsat. These factors make the country a natural collaborator in our journey in the field of Space research.
“SnT is interdisciplinary in nature, but also very international. We thrive on collaboration, and visits such as this give us the opportunity to explore potential new avenues that might have been overlooked before,” said Dr. Carlo Duprel, Head of SnT’s TTO. “We enjoyed discussing the future of Space in Luxembourg and touring our growing facilities with the Senator and the entire delegation.”